Name: Home-style BEST Chicken Dry Rub
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 10 tablespoons
Ingredients: 1/4 cup brown sugar; 2 tablespoons smoked paprika; 1 tablespoon salt; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon onion powder; 1 teaspoon ground mustard; 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

When making chicken recipes, you need a house favorite chicken rub for cooking up satisfying flavor in every bite. This straightforward recipe uses pantry staples to make a dry rub you can keep on hand any time you want to make chicken. This is hands down a house favorite chicken rub for smoking, baking, or grilling.

Half a glass jar of chicken seasoning with fresh herbs laying next to it

Dry Rub for Chicken

A big part of that flavor comes from the rub you use. A smoked chicken rub is a spice mixture that you massage into the meat before putting it in the smoker. This will help get flavor into every bite. It even helps get a crispy outer crust even on skinless chicken.

We've tried a lot of store-bought rubs and they can be great. But again and again, we turn to this from-scratch dry rub. It is a house favorite chicken rub for a smoker.

There are a lot of rub recipes for smoked chicken out there, but this is a house favorite. Not only is it primarily sweet, but it still has a bit of savory taste to it. One of the great things about a satisfying rub is that you don’t have to add anything else to make the chicken taste great.

Why Chicken Rub Seasoning stays in the rotation

When it comes to a good poultry dry rub, you need one that has the right balance of herbs and spices. By having a good balance, you’ll be able to use it on everything from boneless skinless chicken to a whole smoked chicken. It’s important to have the right ratio of salty, sweet, and savory.

This from-scratch spice blend is straightforward to cook
You can make it with pantry staples that you probably already have on hand
It’s sweet and salty and has tons of flavor that pair beautifully with the smokiness.
Works great on any cut of chicken, from wings to chicken legs to breasts to the whole chicken.
The blend of spices is versatile and can be used when cooking chicken in different ways. You can use it as chicken seasoning whether you’re smoking, grilling, baking, or even cooking chicken in the instant pot. The smoked paprika will still give you a hint of smoke flavor.
It helps add flavor to anything you’re using the chicken in.

Chicken Rub Recipe Ingredients

Brown Sugar – both light and dark brown sugar work in this recipe
Smoked paprika – regular paprika will work as well, but this variety gives even more smoky flavor
Salt – Coarse sea salt or coarse kosher salt works great.
Garlic powder – For a house favorite flavor, make sure your garlic powder is fresh and not expired
Onion powder – for best results, make sure it’s still fresh and isn’t bland and expired
Ground mustard – See more about this ingredient below!
Ground black pepper – Fresh ground black pepper will give you the strongest flavor, but any ground black pepper works.

Ground mustard is probably the only one on this list that you might not have on your spice rack. Also known as dry mustard or mustard powder, it’s straightforward to find at your local grocery store or you can Order it online.

It is made from ground mustard seed, which is the same seed used to make the mustard you know and love for burgers. In recipes, it adds a hint of mustard flavor. You can use it in everything from deviled eggs to barbecue sauce.

Glass bowl filled with measured ingredients needed to make chicken seasoning

What is a house favorite binder for chicken rub?

Another ingredient you can add to your shopping list might be a binder — it’s totally optional though.

When it comes to finding a house favorite binder for chicken, you want to try to focus on neutral flavors. Avocado oil and olive oil both work well.

We don’t find a binder to be all that necessary. This chicken seasoning rub sticks to the chicken quite evenly all on its own.

Products used for chicken rub seasoning

Glass mixing bowls

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Measuring cups

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Measuring spoons

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Chicken Rub Recipe Variations

This is naturally a sweet rub recipe, but you can easily adjust it to make it a little spicy.

You can add chipotle powder, chili powder, or cayenne pepper to your personal preference.

How to make Chicken Rub Seasoning

(The printable recipe card with the full measurements and details can be found at the bottom of this post)

Making From-scratch seasonings Is a plain way to get great flavor. Here’s what to do.

Combine all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Mix until its fully combined. That’s it!
We like to use a mason jar or a Spice bottle. Drop in all the ingredients, then shake it up right there in the jar (like it’s a cocktail!). That gets everything nice and mixed up.

Mixing bowl with chicken seasoning combined in it

How to use Dry Rub for Chicken

Chicken rub is great on every single part of the chicken. You can use it on a whole chicken or on smaller cuts like chicken thighs or chicken quarters.

If you use a binder such as avocado oil or olive oil, put a little bit on the chicken with your non-dominant hand. Use your dominant hand to rub it in until the piece is thoroughly coated in oil. (Again, using a binder isn’t necessary!)

Fresh herbs in front of a glass of chicken seasoning and a plate of cooked chicken wings

Whether you use a binder or not, the next step is the same. With your non-dominant hand, sprinkle some of the chicken rub over the chicken. With your dominant hand, massage the rub into the chicken until it is thoroughly distributed.

Let it rest for at least 15 minutes before cooking it so the flavor has lots of time to seep into the meat. Longer is better. If you have a couple of hours, place it in the refrigerator. Let the chicken soak up all that flavor before tossing it in the smoker or pellet grill.

Be sure to smoke your chicken until the internal temperature reaches 165ºF when measured with a Digital thermometer.

If you are looking for a smoked chicken recipe to use this chicken dry rub on, you can try these smoked chicken breasts.

For Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are straightforward to cook and they taste so good with this chicken wing rub.

Make sure to rub the spices into every nook and cranny of the wings so they have plenty of zing in every bite.

You can also use this rub to make Chicken wings in the air fryer.

Then brush the wings with your favorite wing sauces, like Honey sriracha, or serve them dry with From-scratch buttermilk ranch.

For Chicken Thighs

You can also use this rub for smoked chicken thighs.

Treat them the same as chicken wings and make sure every inch of the chicken thigh is covered in the rub.

Small glass jar of chicken seasoning next to a plate of cooked chicken wings and fresh herbs

How to keep

Store your smoked chicken rub in an airtight container in a cool dry place in your pantry.

Before you mix everything together, look for the ingredient with the soonest expiration date. That’s how long you should keep your spice rub in your pantry.

You can write that date on a label or a piece of masking tape on the bottom.

We love using Spice jars To store our from-scratch seasonings. We store them with the rest of the spices in our pantry.